Nicole Rosky - Page 650

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Just last night, Audra McDonald, who will play the Mother Abbess in tonight's THE SOUND OF MUSIC special on NBC, performed 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' in Christmas in Rockefeller Center. Check out her amazing performance below!

Happy Birthday, Ira Gershwin! A lyricist, Gershwin collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. With George he wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows, featuring songs such as 'I Got Rhythm', 'Embraceable You', 'The Man I Love' and 'Someone to Watch Over Me'. He was also responsible, along with DuBose Heyward, for the libretto to George's opera Porgy and Bess. The success the brothers had with their collaborative works has often overshadowed the creative role that Ira played. However, his mastery of songwriting continued after the early death of George. He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern ('Long Ago (and Far Away)'), Kurt Weill and Harold Arlen.

Today in 2002, the fourth Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha opened at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre), where it ran for 304 performances. Man of La Mancha is a musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion and music by Mitch Leigh. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay I, Don Quixote, which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes's seventeenth century masterpiece Don Quixote. It tells the story of the 'mad' knight, Don Quixote, as a play within a play, performed by Cervantes and his fellow prisoners as he awaits a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition.The original 1965 Broadway production ran for 2,328 performances and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The musical has been revived four times on Broadway, becoming one of the most enduring works of musical theatre.

Nikki Blonsky was plucked from obscurity to star in the big screen musical hit "Hairspray," so why is she still living at home with her parents and brother? Nikki explains it all, and shares the valuable advice she got from John Travolta. Check out a preview clip from the episode below, in which Blonsky chats about how her life changed after filming wrapped.

The whole gang met the press earlier this week and BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat wit them about the new play. Check out what they had to say below!

The legendary original star of LES MISERABLES, Colm Wilkinson, returned to the musical that first brought him to international acclaim to perform the role of the Bishop in the Toronto production- a role he played in the Oscar-winning film adaptation. As the Bishop he passed the torch, or the silver candlesticks that his character passes on to Jean Valjean, to Ramin Karimloo, the young Canadian star who has won unanimous raves for his portrayal of Valjean -- a role he will reprise in the upcoming new Broadway production. In the video below, Karimloo and Wilkinson unite to perform 'Bring HIm Home.'

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Trumbull High School has had their spring musical, the school edition of RENT, halted by school administrators. On Monday, Nov. 25, first-year principal Marc Guarino called a Thespian Society meeting, announcing that their planned production of Jonathan Larson's hit rock opera would be cancelled, according to Howard Sherman. Since then, the Board of Education has met, deciding to support the principal's decision to cancel the show. Board chairman Deborah Herbst said: 'Without proper planning, Rent, the school edition, has the potential to become a speech rather than a meaningful dialogue."

Today in 1983, Baby opened at the Ethel barrymore Theatre, where it ran for 241 performances. Baby is a musical with a book by Sybille Pearson, based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.. It concerns the reactions of three couples each expecting a child. Lizzie and Danny are university juniors who have just moved in together. Athletic Pam and her husband, Nick, a sports instructor, have had some trouble conceiving. Arlene, already the mother of three grown daughters, is unsure of what to do, contemplating abortion while her husband Alan is thrilled with the thought of a new baby. Throughout the show, these characters experience the emotional stresses and triumphs, the desperate lows and the comic highs, that accompany the anticipation and arrival of a baby.

In the video below, 'Kinky Boots' star Lena Hall performed an extended rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner before a confused yet delighted crowd at a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game. Check out the extended version of the familiar song below!

In the video below, original Spring Awakening cast member and Atlantic Acting School veteran Brian Charles Johnson announces Atlantic Theater Company's ATC Uncovered- an inside look into the everyday life of a theater company through the artist perspective. He reveals: 'This month we'll be celebrating the 7th anniversary of Spring Awakening on Broadway when myself and a few friends of mine bring it all back home to where it all started with a live, special event.' BroadwayWorld has confirmed that additional detais on the celebration will be announced early next week.

To celebrate the third anniversary of the first performance of SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, the production is rolling out a series of videos of dramatic readings of selections from Glen Berger's new tome, Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History. In this second installment, New York Post columnist Michael Riedel, who has vocally been rooting against the production (which grossed more than $1.4 million last week) since the very beginning, reads a passage about himself.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with La Jolla Playhouse, presents a re-imagining of Henry Krieger and Bill Russell's Side Show. Directed by Academy Award winning director Bill Condon, the musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse now through December 17 and will open at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater in spring 2014. The show was just featured in a special on KPBS, and you can go behind the scenes of the project below. Plus, check out the first video footage from the new production on stage!

Directed by Tony Award-winner and frequent Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, SIX BY SONDHEIM is a highly personal profile of a great American artist as revealed through the creation and performance of six of his iconic songs. Told primarily in Sondheim's own words, this feature documentary weaves together dozens of interviews with the composer, rarely seen archival material spanning more than half a century (including newly discoveRed Footage of Ethel Merman performing 'Gypsy') and re-stagings of three songs produced especially for the film. Executive produced by James Lapine and Frank Rich, the exclusive HBO presentation debuts MONDAY, DEC. 9 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT). Click below to check out a preview of the documentary.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Happy Birthday, Ron Raines! His Broadway credits include Follies (Tony Award nomination), Chicago, Show Boat, Teddy and Alice. he has performed with over fifty symphonies including Chicago, Cleveland, BBC, Royal Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Philly Pops. National Tours & Regional credits include: The Unsinkable Molly Brown, A Little Night Music, Annie, The King and I, Kiss Me Kate, South Pacific, Kismet, etc.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present Golden Globe nominee Rebecca Hall as 'Young Woman' in a new Broadway production of Machinal, by Sophie Treadwell, directed by Lyndsey Turner. The cast will include Suzanne Bertish as 'Mother', Michael Cumpsty as 'Husband',Morgan Spector as 'Lover' and Damian Baldet, Ashley Bell, Jeff Biehl, Arnie Burton, Ryan Dinning, Scott Drummond, Dion Graham, Edward James Hyland, Jason Loughlin, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Daniel Pearce, Henny Russell, Karen Walsh,Michael Warner. The cast met the press earlier this week and BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was on hand to chat with the company. Check out what they had to say about the production below!

Happy Birthday, Bette Midler! Bette Midler produced the recent Broadway musical 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert.' She made her Broadway debut playing Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. Thereafter, she began singing in clubs around town including at the famed Continental Baths where she developed the trademark act that would make her one of the most renowned talents of a generation. Midler's first starring role in the feature film, The Rose, garnered two Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy for the film's title song and a best actress Oscar nomination.

Milly Shapiro, Bailey Ryon, Oona Laurence and Sophia Gennusa, the Tony-winning leading ladies from Broadway's Matilda The Musical, will depart the production within the next two months. The girls revealed in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal that they will be leaving to make room for a new crop of girls- the 'Newtildas'.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was in attendence at the after party, where he chatted with McKellen, Stewart, Crudup, Hensley and Mathias about the productions. Check out what they had to say below!